Centrifugal casting



Oct. 29, 1929. w GlLlTHAUSEN 1,73,35661 CENTRIFUGAL CASTING Filed May25, 1927 INVENTOR BY 6M .84! ow 6M ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 29, 1929UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WERNER GILLHAUSEN, OF DOR'I'MUIND, GERMANY,ASSIG-NOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO CENTRIFUGAL PIPE CORPORATION, ACORPORATION OF DELAWARE GENTRIFUGAL CASTING Application filed May 23,1927, Serial No. 193,583, and in Germany May 25, 1926.

My invention relates to improvements in centrifugal castings, and moreparticularly aims at providing means for the production of hollowcastings, such as for instance pipes of all kinds, whereby more castingscan be produced per unit of-time than was hitherto possible.

In the production of hollow castings by .centrifugal action in moldsrotating about a 10. horizontal axis it has already been suggested tocast the metal in two or more superposed layers. However, this mode ofcasting as hitherto suggested consumes much time.

It has further been suggested to introduce the metal into the moldlaterally from a pair of tipping troughs so that the pipe is built uprather in the form of spiral sheets by sheet-like discharges of moltenmetal over the edges of the troughs upon simultaneously or consecutivelyrotating thetroughs about their longitudinal axes.

It is the object of this invention to produce hollow castings bycentrifugal action in which the hollow casting is built-up helicallyintwo or more superposed layers, in

distinction from a sheet-like discharge, without requiring any more timethan by casting in a single layer. This is achieved by providing troughsadapted to discharge the molten metal therefrom in the form of jetswhereby the molten metal is deposited into the rotating mold in the formof a plurality of helical windings which are fused together while incourse of formation. In other words, the second or inner layer is beingdeposited on the inner surface of the outer layerwhile this outer layeris still in course of formation.

In order to produce castings according to this new method I prefer usinga plurality of metal troughs capable of axial displacement relative tothe mold. Preferably a separate casting metal trough is used for eachindividual layer. The troughs can all be disposed on the same level butthey may also be arranged on different levels, means bein provided foradjusting the level and rate 0 displacement of each trough so that thedrop of the metal from each trough can be adjusted during the 60 castingoperation. Preferably the troughs can also be displaced relative to eachother in the longitudinal direction in order to allow the distancebetween the several metal jets and layers to be controlled in suchmanner that the metal layer formed by one jet has the quality requiredfor causing this layer to combine and melt together with the metal layerformed by the second or third jet. To this distance between the several'ets also corresponds the interval of time etween the commencement ofthe formation of the several layers. Therefore the present inventionenables me to cast a hollow body in several layers with a single strokeof the several metal troughs. Obviously instead of displacing thetroughs relative to the mold, I can also displace the mold relative tothe troughs. Casting can thus be carried through very rapidly andcastings of any desired wall thickness can be obtained, the castingsproduced in such manner having a particularly homogeneous structure. Forthis reason the new process is particularly adapted for the casting ofthickwalled hollow bodies, such as tubular blanks.

In the drawings afiixed to this specificainto the mold than the innerend of the trough 3. Obviousl the axial distance between the inner ends0 the troughs can'easily be varied to suit the requirements of eachindividual case.

In the present instance the mold is shown as being displaceable axiallyon wheels relative to the metal troughs 2, 3, which are shownstationary, metal being poured into the outer ends of the troughs from aladle, as is well known to those skilled in the art. The two jets ofmolten metal issuing from the inner ends of the two troughs 2, 3 will,as shown in the drawing, form two superposed layers of 5 molten metal,the inner layer being formed by the trough 2, and on the mold beingdisplaced axially to the right in the drawing, the inner surface of themold will be covered with two I concentric layers of molten metal formedsubstantially simultaneously.

Obviously the number of metal troughs used in the production of a singlecasting may vary according to the requirements, and it is also possibleto cast different metals by means of different troughs, so that castingsconsisting of concentric layers of different metals can be produced.

If desired, the different metal troughs may also project into the moldfrom different ends.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim 1. The method of casting metal centrifugally which compriseshelically depositing a layer of molten metal upon the inner face of arotating. mold, and helically depositing a second 0 layer of moltenmetal upon the first while the latter is still in course of formation,whereby the two are fused together.

2. The method of casting metal centrifugally which comprises introducinga jet of molten metal at one end of a rotating mold, building up thecasting helically by a relative axial movement between the jet and thcmold and simultaneously introducing a second jet of molten metal'u'ponthe metal deposited by the 40 first before the latter has completelyformed,

whereby an integral structure is formed.

3. The method of casting metal centrifugally which comprises introducinga plurality of axially spaced jets of molten metal into a rotating moldand building up a casting composed of superposed concentric layers ofmetal byra unidirectional axial displacement of the mold relative to thejets.

' 4. The method of casting metal centrifugally as claimed in claim 3,the axial distance between the several jets corresponding to theinterval of time between the commencement of the formation of theseveral layers, so that each inner layer fuses with the next adjacent 5outer one.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WERNER GILLHAUSEN.

